[MOC] Baureihe 01 motorised steam locomotive (7w) — Albrecht edition

[Freak_NL]

Hello brick fans,

A while back I posted a question about the elusive 1L axle I needed for a locomotive. @Stereo suggested a better alternative, and today the MOC this was part of got approved on Rebrickable, so: sharing time.

The Baureihe 01 class steam locomotive was designed for express passenger service in Germany with the Deutsche Reichsbahn, and had a top speed of 130 km/h.

This MOC is loosely modelled after locomotive number 01 008, the first of this class to enter service in 1926. Like the other locomotives of this class used by the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West-Germany after the war, it was eventually fitted with the so called Witte smoke deflectors (in contrast to its East-German brethren which used the larger Wagner smoke deflectors).

Today, 01 008 is part of the collection of the railway museum in Bochum-Dahlhausen.



This is not the first MOC for a locomotive from Baureihe 01, and it probably won't be the last. I'm sure most of you can call to mind a number of times this locomotive class has been done in Lego. For this MOC the following goals are met:

• All parts used are genuine LEGO® parts
• The locomotive is motorised using Powered Up parts
• The locomotive can run on LEGO® tracks, and handle all curves and switches
• The scale of the model makes it fit in with LEGO® City sets
• The drive wheels are actually drive wheels (i.e., the motor drives them)
• The cab can hold a minifigure

I've looked at these two before designing my own version. Both are great MOCs, and served as inpsiration:

• German class 01/Baureihe 01 by Germanrailwaybuilder
• BR 01 by JohannesW

The reason I made my own was mainly because of wanting to use modern motors and controllers, and to have the motor sit in the boiler leaving the cab for a minifigure. And of course, drive it using the drive wheels!

Also a shout out to @Duq for showing how he did his BR65 drive train 14 years ago. That was useful.

A number of vintage parts are used in this MOC. If you want to stick to 100% LEGO® parts, you'll need:

• One (1) 4180c05, vintage large train wheel, which is rare and slightly pricey, but available
• Sixteen (16) 3959, space gun/torch, which are available, but probably not all with one seller
• Four (4) 75c19, rigid 3mm hose, which is available, but in limited quantities

I realize that using 4180c05 (even just one) makes this not the most approachable MOC, but I felt it was worth the extra effort. See this photo I used for reference for example. The reason this MOC exists is that my son wants a Lego steam locomotive for Sinterklaas, but I didn't find any of the existing MOCs to my taste. So I made this. The box of parts is ready for gift-wrapping, and the instructions are done. I've tested this locomotive extensively to make sure it can handle current generation tracks and switches, including S-curves. Because of that, this design uses the common articulated locomotive base, which does harm its appearance because of the limitations that introduces, but I think the balance between looks and playability came out right.

Because I wanted this MOC to fit in with City sets, I kept the width limited. To get the ratios between boiler and wheels right, and to be able to fit a motor inside, I ended up having the locomotive sit mostly at 7 studs wide. This is, of course, really impractical and necessitates way too many jumpers. But, it seems to work. At the wheel level the width is 8 studs, with some pin studs going a little beyond that at the rods.

For the model I did most of the design work in Leocad. The instructions were laid out using Studio and exported as PNG (1x). Some steps were modified to include extra hints at tricky points and axle length hints (which Studio does not seem to do). The introduction was written in LibreOffice Writer, and the tweaking of build steps and the front cover were done in Inkscape and the GIMP.

The build instructions are up, let me know what you think:

https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-202862

Edited December 1, 2024 by Freak_NL

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

It's always a pleasure to see these huge steam locomotives reproduced in Lego... I also have a soft spot for the BR01!

[Celeste]

Wow! Looks fantastic and you've faithfully captured the prototype! I especially love the use of the older red train wheels for the leading and trailing trucks and the tender truck detail is very nice!

[zephyr1934]

Great work, it feels like a modernized design from the 7777 book

[Feuer Zug]

Amazing work. You captured it well, even if you had to use some hard to source parts.

[Freak_NL]

10 hours ago, zephyr1934 said:

Great work, it feels like a modernized design from the 7777 book

Funny you should mention 7777. I actually have that book, and now that my son is of Lego-age, he is often browsing it as I did back in the 80s. I know I've always wanted to build that black locomotive (page 40), but I didn't think about it until you mentioned 7777 just now. Somehow the BR-01 makes sense as an archetypical European steam locomotive to me and my son, and we've even seen this one in the museum in Bochum. So I didn't consciously make an upgrade of that, but unconsciously? Probably! I never was able to build it because while I own 7710 (which explains why I had all those 4180c04 lying around), I didn't have those large wheels (one of which now returns in this MOC as the trailing wheel).

15 hours ago, Celeste said:

Wow! Looks fantastic and you've faithfully captured the prototype! I especially love the use of the older red train wheels for the leading and trailing trucks and the tender truck detail is very nice!

13 minutes ago, Feuer Zug said:

Amazing work. You captured it well, even if you had to use some hard to source parts.

Thanks! It's a balancing act isn't it? I think it wouldn't be too hard to change the vintage wheels for third party ones and keep the general look and feel similar, while sacrificing the 100% Lego aspect. I have no experience with those, so I've left that option out. It would be nice if Lego introduced a successor for 4180c05 (the trailing wheel) though! 4180c04 (the normal size older ones) could probably be replaced with the axle mounted modern ones already.

Agreed on hard to source! I had to order that piece three times. First time the seller had an error in their catalogue (got a refund and a free 4180c04 though), second time the package got lost (probably, it has been over a month now). Only the third time did I get it. I've had no problem ordering anything else: just this cursed part.

17 hours ago, LEGO Train 12 Volts said:

I also have a soft spot for the BR01!

It's so iconic. :)

Edited December 2, 2024 by Freak_NL

[Flemmbrav]

As a big fan of 7w steamers, I'm in love!

I hope your child will like it as well when building it during Christmas :)

[Freak_NL]

Thanks @Flemmbrav!

Man… train wheel 4180c05 really is cursed. Today the package I thought went missing arrived after five weeks, and for the second time a seller sent me the also vintage but pretty cheap 4180c04 (the normal size wheel part I used six times for the leading wheels and the tender) instead of the big one. The price difference:

• 4180c04: around €0.50
• 4180c05: around €15.00

That's quite a difference! I am assuming good faith on the part of the two sellers, but it does make me wonder how many wrongly listed 4180c05 are out there.

[DAN42BR]

hello thanks for the instructions!
So you can see how other locomotives are built!
Do you also have the IO file!

Edited December 21, 2024 by DAN42BR